


Absent Minded

by whatdoidowiththisthingnow



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 21:42:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17536784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatdoidowiththisthingnow/pseuds/whatdoidowiththisthingnow
Summary: I couldn't stop thinking about that plot twist after 4x10 and the infinite possibilities it opened up. Let me be clear: I'm here for whatever direction the writer's are going to take this story. This is just what first spilled out of my brain.





	Absent Minded

**PRESENT**

“Agent Danvers…stand down.”

She’s surprised how her voice doesn’t betray her, how she’s able to keep her composure here, in an abandoned warehouse, staring down her ex-fiancée.

“You’re out of line, Detective.” 

They have that in common, apparently. Alex doesn’t flinch either.

“Please,” comes a sob from behind her.

Maggie doesn’t look, but she can hear the lump in Kara’s throat. And the way she’s breathing…she’d put money on a few broken ribs.

Supergirl had solar-flared long enough ago, before the second wave of attacks came, that she might as well have been human during the battle.

The real alien threats that brought them all here were unconscious now. Half a dozen reptilian-humanoids scattered across the floor, along with her own NCPD partner, and some worse-for-the-wear DEO agents.

She can see her partner’s chest rise and fall, so at least she knows she’s breathing. She hasn’t been able to check on her though, because she’s still in a stand-off over Supergirl—fucking _Supergirl_ —of all things…

Maggie doesn’t have words for what she saw take place over the last hour. Her mind can’t even comprehend it. She can feel it though, the seismic rift in the relationship between Alex and Kara that she can’t even begin to explain.

But she knows one thing to be absolutely true: she will not let the DEO take Supergirl away in handcuffs. Kara’s not safe with them.

The absolute absurdity of that thought almost makes her laugh.

Almost.

…

**36 HOURS EARLIER**

She rushes into the crowded Noonan’s and spies her sister in the corner, checking her watch. She slides into the empty chair across from her, knocking her knees against the table, and nearly spilling Alex’s coffee all over the place.

“Sorry! Sorry. I know, I’m late. I—uh…” _Rao_ , she’s terrible at lying. She’s still trying to get better at that.

“You forgot,” Alex finishes, looking at her disapprovingly.

“I didn’t! Our morning meeting ran late, and I was assigned some boring story about the zoning commissioner, and then it took nearly an hour for me to get a hold of his secretary so he could set up a meeting with me. So,” she remembers to breathe, “So I’m late. And I’m sorry.”

Alex eyes her skeptically, “The…zoning commissioner?”

“Your usual?”

Kara’s head snaps over to the waitress that’s appeared and unknowingly bailed her out of another terrible attempt at lying. She grins and nods enthusiastically, “Yes, please!”

“Two sticky buns and a pumpkin spice latte, coming up,” she winks. Kara beams.

“You can’t keep doing that,” Alex hisses.

She furrows her brow, “Eat sticky buns and a pumpkin spice latte?” she smirks, “You gonna stop me?”

Alex sighs, “You eat like a human garbage disposal and somehow, you still look like—” she gestures up and down at Kara, “like _that_.”

Kara looks down at herself, then back up at her clearly insane sister with a frown. She plucks a grape off of Alex’s half-eaten plate, “There. Balance.”

“Kara…” she groans.

It’s a tone she knows well, of course, but one she’s still getting used to hearing again. She’d forgotten how easily she frustrated her sister, before. And now…now it was like that all the time.

“Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? Sticky buns?”

“No. I—”

The waitress brings her food and coffee, and Alex waits until she’s gone before she continues.

Her voice drops to a whisper, “I know you have a…a source…at CatCo.”

She pops a piece of her sticky bun in her mouth, confused, “I’m a reporter. I have a lot of sources.”

Alex pinches the bridge of her nose, “A particular… _super_ …source of information?”

Kara nearly chokes. She picks up her coffee with shaking hands, takes a sip, and tries to breathe, “I—um—what?” she stutters.

Her sister crosses her arms, “I’m not an idiot.”

“I didn’t say you were!”

“ _Shhh_!”

“Sorry!”

A few heads turn, but they go back to their own conversations just as quickly, deciding nothing about two sisters bickering in a coffee shop is worth paying attention to.

Alex lowers her voice again, “Look—I work in a government building. I may not have your hearing, but mine’s just fine. And something bad is happening with Supergirl. You need to stay away from her. At least—” she looks over her shoulder quickly, then turns back to Kara, “at least for a little while. It’s not safe.”

Kara’s eyes go wide. She’s stunned into silence.

It’s been weeks since J’onn wiped all memories of Kara as Supergirl from Alex’s mind, and this is the first time she’s mentioned 1. working for the government, 2. Kara having powers, and 3. the biggest bombshell of the morning—knowing Supergirl.

But Alex takes her silence the wrong way, and she stands to leave in a huff, “Why do I even bother? You never listen to me anyway… Just—for once in your life—maybe try to remember that I’m your big sister, and sometimes— _sometimes_ —I am actually trying to protect you.”

…

**PRESENT**

“I don’t know why you bother protecting her.”

A low groan from the corner of the room makes Maggie look, and she sees her partner twitch slightly. The other agents are going to regain consciousness soon, followed shortly by the alien threats they should both be working to apprehend right now.

Instead, they’re locked in this ridiculous stance.

Her adrenaline is wearing off, and her arms are starting to ache. She tries again, “She’s not the threat here. You know that.”

Alex doesn’t move, but there’s a flicker in her eyes, and Maggie feels the smallest bit of hope bubble up in her chest.

She thinks back to her hostage negotiation training. She needs to de-escalate the situation. Needs to appeal to the humanity in Alex Danvers. Appeal to the heart that she used to hold in her hands, the heart she used to protect with her life.

The same heart that’s currently about six inches to the left of where her service weapon is aimed.

She refocuses, “I know you’re here for the Psions, Agent Danvers. For their tech.”

“Director.”

She falters, “S’cuse me?”

“ _Director_ Danvers. And you don’t know anything.”

Maggie considers that for a moment, weighing the new information and ignoring the insult.

She trusts her gut, “Director, you’ve got your hands full here. A shootout with the NCPD will certainly not go unnoticed—especially since my partner woke up about 30 seconds ago. The aliens will be awake in no time, so unless you’re willing to take the chance that you and two lowly NCPD officers will be able to take them down by ourselves, I suggest we get moving.”

Alex only blinks.

Maggie wonders, not for the first time that night, if perhaps she’s being mind-controlled.

There are sirens in the distance; the backup they called finally arriving.

She’s running out of time.

…

**24 HOURS EARLIER**

She raps on the door more than is probably necessary, but she can’t help it, she doesn’t have time, “J’onn? J’onn!”

He answers with a look of concern, “What happened?”

“We need to talk.”

He lets her inside, and she immediately starts pacing. The thoughts that have been spinning through her head all day start pouring out of her mouth before she can put them in any kind of cohesive structure.

“She knows about Supergirl. She told me she works for the government. And I just sat there. Stunned. I was _stunned_. I nearly choked to death—but didn’t, obviously. Thank Rao. But it didn’t work! That’s the only…it’s the only explanation. What are we going to do? What if Haley finds out? How do we fix it? I-I thought it was going to be hard enough to lie to her every day, but if you have to—” Tears spring up unexpectedly, and she wipes them away as quick as she can, “I can’t let you do it again, J’onn. Not her mind. She’s too…too smart. She’s…and I trust you, I do, but we’re talking about her _mind_. Her brain. I won’t do it. Not again.”

He looks, understandably, confused, “Slow down. Who’s mind?”

It’s like he hasn’t heard a word she’s said, “She’s remembering, J’onn. Alex.”

His eyebrows raise slightly, and he rubs his chin.

His stoicism in the moment is not calming, it’s infuriating. She wants to scream, or cry, or maybe punch something. _Do_ something. Anything.

Finally, _finally_ , he looks at her, “You’re sure?”

She opens her mouth, then drops her shoulders, “Well…no. Not exactly,” she admits.

He nods, “What did she say, _exactly_.”

Kara takes a deep breath and thinks back to this morning, “She was talking about how she ‘works in a government building’ and that ‘something bad is happening with Supergirl’ and I needed to stay away—from Supergirl, not the building.”

He folds his arms, “That’s it?”

She’s frustrated at his lack of urgency, “That’s not enough?!”

“Well…”

She jumps up, “No! Wait! She also said something about my hearing being better than hers. So she knows I have powers!”

He arches an eyebrow, “Or she knows you’re a nosy little sister.”

“No! Well, yes. But she—” She plops down into a chair, defeated, “Fine.I’ll give you that. But it…it’s weird, right? It’s more than she’s said since…” she freezes. She can’t say it.

J’onn folds his hands, clearly thinking the information over again. It feels like a lifetime before he says anything, “It could be nothing.”

“But—”

He cuts her off, “But it’s worth looking into, for sure. If only for her own protection.”

She hugs him tight, “Thank you.”

_“J’onn?”_

The voice and knock at the door makes her jump, “Why is she here??” she whispers.

J’onn looks just as surprised as she is.

She starts looking for a way to escape, but the windows are too small to climb out of easily, and the door is definitely not an option. She looks around in panic and sees J’onn holding open the door to the linen closet, looking apologetic.

She nods and goes inside as he closes the door behind her. She hears the apartment door open a second later.

“Alex! Good to see you. What brings you here?”

“It’s about Supergirl.”

Kara feels like she’s going to throw up.

…

**PRESENT**

The breathing behind her has gotten so labored, that Maggie chances a quick look over her shoulder to check on Kara. She looks like she might puke. That can’t be a good sign.

When she turns around again, Alex is bringing her left hand from her gun to her ear, dropping the muzzle of the alien gun a fraction of an inch.

Maggie holds. She knows she could just as easily shoot her in this stance.

“Hostiles are contained. Agents are unconscious, but alive.”

She’s tired, she’s sore, she’s running out of time—and so is Supergirl. She’s not sure how hurt Kara is, but even if they both get arrested, the DEO would treat her injuries.

She has one last chance, and she takes it, “Is that what she is? Another hostile to be contained? She saved your _life_ , Director. Not to mention the life of everyone on your team.”

Something like guilt flashes across Alex’s face—a crack in the steely demeanor she’d held until now. Her eyes flit from Maggie, to Supergirl, to the gun in her hands pointed at them both.

Maggie doesn’t move.

The steel is back as quick as it left, but then Alex turns her back on them both, holstering her gun and pulling out her handcuffs. She strides over toward the aliens, and Maggie exhales, dropping her chin to her chest and holstering her own weapon.

As Alex walks away, she hears her faintly, “Lost her in the shuffle. Must’ve fled the scene.”

She only gives herself a moment, then spins around to see Kara in a crumpled heap on the cement floor, eyes shut tight, and tears streaming down her cheeks.

…

**23 HOURS EARLIER**

Kara’s heart breaks at the sight of her sister, at the knowledge of quite literally hiding herself from the person she loves more than anything in the universe.

When they agreed to wipe Alex’s knowledge of Supergirl’s true identity, she knew there would be changes in their relationship, but in reality, it seemed there was new change every day.

Supergirl was more than just Kara’s alter-ego, it was the thing that connected them on a daily basis.

Despite an entire childhood under one roof, being Supergirl was the thing that brought them closest together. It was four years of having each other’s backs, saving each other’s lives, nursing each other’s wounds, saving the world.

Now, they were at arm’s lengths. Kara was a reporter, Alex was a scientist—a government scientist, she was apparently allowed to know—and work wasn’t a thing they really talked about.

They were back to where they were before Supergirl, before Alex’s plane almost crashed, before…everything important, it seemed.

The wall between them had been built back up again out of necessity. They couldn’t be honest with each other, so there was less space to voice their deepest insecurities. She missed that more than she thought she would.

Sometimes it felt like it would’ve been easier to erase her from Alex’s life altogether.

“The DEO is cutting ties with all aliens. We’re losing assets, technology, weapons, armor, hell—I had to practically beg Colonel Haley to let Brainy keep his job. It—it’s bad.”

He sits on the edge of his desk, unmoved, “I’m sorry to hear that. But I left that life behind, Alex.”

“I know, and I wouldn’t come if it wasn’t important. But…she’s gone off the grid.”

“Supergirl?” he guesses.

The mere mention of the name makes Kara’s blood run cold.

“Yes. She quit.”

His face looks as shocked as his tone suggests he should be, “Quit the DEO? Really?”

She’s a little concerned how good he is at this. If she ever escapes from this closet, maybe he can teach her how to be a better liar.

“Can’t say I blame her…” Alex mutters, “But now I need to find her. That’s a direct order.”

“You don’t mean…” he looks at her suspiciously, “to capture her?”

Alex kicks at the carpet, unable to meet his eyes, “All available resources have been assigned to the mission.”

Kara’s jaw drops. _A mission for what, exactly? Capturing Supergirl? Bringing her into the DEO and…then what? Torturing her to find out her identity? Forcing her to do their bidding?_

“I don’t know where she is.”

Alex runs a hand through her hair, “Yeah…that’s what I thought you’d say.”

She looks around the room, and when her eyes sweep over the closet in the corner, Kara ducks unnecessarily, on instinct.

“I’m not on their side, J’onn. I don’t hate aliens,” she smiles at him a little, “obviously. I hope you know that.”

“I do.”

“I just don’t know what else to do. I can’t disobey orders forever. I can’t keep coming up with excuses.”

He crosses his arms, “And once they find her, how long before they start going after others? After all of us? After—”

Alex takes a step forward and she looks _livid_. Kara’s never seen her look at J’onn that way. Her voice is suddenly ice cold, “ _That_ secret died with Hank Henshaw.”

Kara clasps a hand over her mouth to cover the squeak that nearly escapes.

But J’onn is unmoved. He stands taller, “Except it didn’t, Director Danvers.”

“We can change that,” she threatens.

A tear falls down Kara’s cheek and she wipes it on her sleeve. _What is happening?_

…

**PRESENT**

Maggie wraps a large cloth bandage around her ribcage, “I assume…you want…to know what happened,” Kara manages between shallow breaths.

She remembers responding to the call, trying to help the DEO contain the reptilian-like aliens, but they were fighting a losing battle—at least until Supergirl showed up.

She also remembers the very un-DEO-like hesitation from every black-ops agent at the appearance of National City’s hero. In the moment, it had happened so fast, she thought she imagined it.

But despite giving quite literally all she had to save their lives, the second the Psions were no longer a threat, she certainly did _not_ imagine the way the remaining DEO agents—Alex Danvers included—had turned instantly, fixedly, on Supergirl—who as far as Maggie knew, was one of their own.

But she was better off not knowing, “No. Not really,” she lies.

“…oh,” she seems surprised, and maybe a little disappointed, not to fight her on the issue.

Kara was lucky. Three cracked—not broken—ribs, varying degrees of cuts and bruises, but nothing more serious.

She helped the battered Kryptonian into her police cruiser, but once inside, she had no idea where to take her. This was Alex’s territory. The DEO’s. Those both seemed off-limits, given the circumstances.

So Maggie drove home.

Now, Kara was sitting in her living room, in a sports bra and Maggie’s NCPD sweatpants, white-knuckling the arm of the couch to hold herself upright. Maggie was still amazed she hadn’t broken it clean off.

She focuses on carefully tucking the bandage into itself tight enough so it won’t come undone. Then she picks up the zip-up hoodie and helps maneuver her into it.

Kara winces and she stills, “Sorry,” she mutters.

“It’s fine. _Rao_ …is this how you feel after every fight?” she grimaces. She reaches for the zipper with swollen, bloody knuckles, and Maggie frowns.

“Let me.”

“Thanks.”

As she does up her zipper, she’s struck with how small Kara seems in this moment. How helpless. The only time she’s ever seen her like this was after Psi had attacked.

A chill runs down her spine at the memory, and she tries to shrug it off, “And yes. Congratulations, you’re human…at least for a little while.”

They sit in the silence for a moment before Maggie gets to her feet. Kara moves too, but she puts a hand on her shoulder to stop her. “Stay there,” she orders kindly.

She returns from the kitchen with a bowl of soapy water to clean Kara’s hands, before she bandages those too.

The routine is so familiar that her mind wanders, and for a moment she’s reminded of another night bandaging bloody knuckles. Another Danvers who hadn’t hesitated to save her life.

_These wounds won’t leave scars though…_

She closes her eyes for a second, and sees those scarred knuckles vividly, gripping the glowing alien gun that was pointed right at her chest.

Kara inhales sharply again, and she blinks away the recent memory of Alex, “Sorry.”

The sound of a phone vibrating against the table startles them both.

Kara reaches for it, biting her lip as she takes a painful deep breath, “Alex!”

Her tone is light and bubbly. Maggie can see the pain on her face that comes from not being cautious about her cracked ribs, but it doesn’t show in her voice.

“Yeah, I know…I’m sorry…This article’s been taking up all my time…Saturday for sure…Definitely. I promise!…Alright. Bye.”

She tosses the phone to the side, while Maggie just stares at her, dumbfounded.

Kara relaxes into the couch with the smallest smirk, “You said you didn’t want to know.”

Maggie just shakes her head. She takes the bowl of water back to the sink and puts the kettle on the stove, internally debating the most recent development in the situation.

Against her better judgement, she leans against the counter and puts a hand on her hip, “Fine. I lied.”

…

**23 HOURS EARLIER**

“You _lied_ to me, J’onn!”

After another few minutes of vague threats, Alex had left without gaining any more information on Supergirl, and J’onn looking more than a little ashamed of himself.

“She knows I’m an alien and you didn’t tell me?! I’ve been walking around like an idiot, pretending to be human for _weeks_.”

He frowns, “It made more sense not to tell you.”

“Why? Why would you lie to me?”

“Because…” Even now, he clearly does not want to tell her the truth. He sighs, “Because she doesn’t know that _you_ know that you’re an alien.”

That stops her in her tracks, “Wait—what?”

He sits down, looking exhausted, “It was too hard, Kara. The mind is complex, and her mind is…well, it’s more complex.”

She furrows her brow, “I don’t understand.”

“You being an alien is too tied to who she is. Without an alien sister, her father wouldn’t join the DEO, Jeremiah wouldn’t have saved me, I wouldn’t have impersonated Hank, Alex wouldn’t have become a scientist, she wouldn’t have dropped out of school, and she certainly would not have been recruited. She has no reason to be. None of it would make sense.”

She sits down next to him, thinking over his words, “But this whole time, she’s known I was Kryptonian?”

“Of course not.”

Kara’s confused now, “But she knows I’m an alien…what kind of alien does she think I am?”

He frowns, “That, unfortunately, I don’t know.”

“You have to! You did this to her!”

J’onn doesn’t back down, “I did what I had to—and nothing more.”

“What does that mean?”

“I changed what I needed to, but her mind is still her own, firing synapses and making connections all the time. I don’t know what all of those are. I can’t control how her brain continues to put information together.”

“I just want my sister back, J’onn,” she puts her head in her hands, and a tear falls down her cheek.

The question she’d been trying not to voice out loud she suddenly can’t hold back any longer, “What did we do?”

…

**PRESENT**

“Wait—you did _what_?” Maggie is aware that her jaw has dropped in a cartoonish manner, but it was the only logical response to what Kara just told her.

“That was my reaction too,” Kara smiles sadly, “but I couldn’t change her mind.”

Maggie puts her tea on the coffee table and tries to wrap her mind around the fact that they mind-wiped— _mind-wiped_ —Alex Danvers a few weeks ago.

“So she doesn’t remember anything?”

Kara shifts on the couch, wincing slightly at the pain in her ribs, “She definitely does _not_ know that I am Supergirl—that was the whole point—and she can _never_ know.”

Maggie hears the clear threat in her tone, “Yeah, yeah. Cross my heart.”

She seems to accept that, “But she knows that I’m her sister—that Kara Danvers is her sister, that is.”

“Her biological sister?”

“Still adopted. And,” her eyes looked surprised at the thought, “still an alien, apparently.”

“What do you mean ‘apparently,’” she asks.

Kara sighs, and Maggie gets the impression she’s been having this conversation enough over the last few weeks, that she’s exhausted herself on the subject. She doesn’t care. She has to know.

She shrugs, “It’s easier for me to pretend to be human. And if she thinks _I_ think I’m human, she’ll never expect me to be Supergirl.”

“The _glasses_?” she scoffs, “She’s smarter than that.” 

Kara smirks, “It works. You think you’re so clever, but if Alex was called in to a routine case that day—not one where her little sister went missing—you still wouldn’t have known.”

She has a point—although Maggie would rather die than admit it.

“Ok, but…” she tries to piece this together. She tries to understand the depth of what this means for who Alex is now. So much of their own history was wrapped up in Supergirl, and Kara, and Kara being Supergirl, that it’s hard to know what might no longer exist, “it seemed like she still knew who I was.”

“She does,” Kara nods, “You were…uh…together. She remembers that.”

It hurts to even say it, but she has to know, “Engaged?”

She was not expecting the pain on Kara’s face when she answers, “Right.”

Kara stares into her mug, “It’s…hard to explain. We still don’t know exactly how her mind reconfigured her memories—even J’onn doesn’t.”

“So you did this to her, and you didn’t even bother to find out if you did it right?”

“It’s not like that! Look—” she looks on the verge of tears.

Maggie should feel bad about pushing her, but she doesn’t.

“I hate it too! I want her back more than anything, and I—I’m starting to worry that we did something we won’t be able to undo.” She wipes away the tears on her cheeks, “But if we ask too many questions, if we start poking and prodding her about aliens and Supergirl, then she’ll get suspicious, and she’ll probably figure it out, because she’s too smart for her own good, and then this was all for nothing!”

But Maggie’s not in a mood to forgive them for this, no matter how many times Kara says it was the only option. She can’t believe what they did. 

“You’ve rewritten her entire life.”

The disappointment on Kara’s face tells her she already knows, “Yes—but no. We didn’t change anything Alex _did_. We just changed what she knows.”

She tilts her head, “Now you lost me.”

“It’s not like changing the past. Everything still happened exactly the way it did. Her memory of some things has just been…altered a bit. But without her past, her decisions, that same series of events, she doesn’t become who she is. She has to be as close as possible to the Alex Danvers we all knew before.”

“Why?”

“After President Marsden stepping down, and the rise of Agent Liberty, the DEO is…different. They’re spearheaded by fear, and determined to rid the planet of all alien life. Left unchecked, they’d follow through on that mission by any means necessary.”

Well that sounds awfully familiar, “So, the old DEO.”

Kara nods, “Exactly. She’s our only hope.”

“The way she looked at you tonight, that didn’t look like hope.”

“Its not perfect,” Kara admits.

“She almost killed you.”

“She wouldn’t have.”

“You’re sure of that?”

“As sure as you were.”

 _Touché._ Maggie held her own, but she never really though that Alex would pull the trigger. Although, admittedly, at the time she didn’t know that she was dealing with a different version of Alex Danvers.

Then a thought that she should’ve probably had a long time ago dawns on her, “How come I still know the truth? You—wait, are you going to wipe my memory too?”

“No! Of course not!”

She looks offended at the insinuation, but Maggie can’t figure out why they wouldn’t. She knew everything before today—and now she knows more.

There’s a knock at the door and Kara jumps, apparently forgetting her injuries, and doubling over in pain a second later.

Maggie puts a hand on her knee, “It’s probably just the pizza.”

She grabs her gun off the side table before she checks the peephole, but sure enough, it’s just the delivery guy. They exchange casual pleasantries, and by the time she turns back from paying him, Kara’s asleep on the couch.

She covers her with a blanket, and grabs a couple slices of pizza to take back to her room.

Balancing her laptop on her knees, and careful not to drop pizza toppings on the keyboard, she pecks away with the few fingers that aren’t covered in grease: _the human brain and memory_.

…

**8 HOURS EARLIER**

“The three…stages…of memory?”

Kara slams her laptop shut, “Just some research. An….an article. It’s nothing.”

Noonan’s was busy again this morning, and she was so lost in the article, that she didn’t even hear Alex coming.

“Does the zoning commissioner have amnesia or something?” she laughs.

“Yeah, something…” she shoves the laptop in her bag for good measure.

Alex sits opposite her, folding her arms, “Well? What was so important?”

She hates this. She hates being this version of herself. She likes to think she’s evolved past the bratty little sister she’d been for—well, most of her life, if she was being honest—but it’s not how Alex knows her now. She’s hoping to change that, starting today.

“I’m…sorry.”

“For what?”

“For yesterday. I know you we’re just looking out for me. You always are.”

That seems to make her relax a bit, “We’re sisters. We fight,” she shrugs, “I still love you. Whatever.”

If she didn’t have super-hearing, she might not have heard it. And while it’s an acceptance, it doesn’t feel like it used to. But it still makes her smile, “I love you too,” she says sincerely.

Alex narrows her eyes, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! Nothing,” she laughs, “Is it so weird for me to tell you that I love you?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

That’s fair _._ But before she can say anything, the waitress appears and sets down a plate in front of her.

Alex bursts out laughing, “What is _that_?!”

“What? It’s…an omelette. Don’t be weird.”

Her sister leans forward and raises her eyebrows, “There are actual vegetables in there, Kara,” she teases.

Kara rolls her eyes, “Yes. I know. I ordered it.”

Alex bites back a grin, but she looks so smug, “Well, well, well…”

“Shut up. Maybe…maybe you were right.”

“Sorry, what’s that?”

“ _You were right_ ,” she concedes, “I’m not in college anymore. I should eat like an actual grown up.”

She doesn’t tell her about the two sticky buns she had an hour ago, but that’s not important. Nothing is as important as getting her sister back.

If J’onn couldn’t give her memories back, she was determined to make some new ones. Guide their relationship toward where it was before, somehow, even with all the secrets. She convinced herself it could work.

Alex’s phone rings and she gets a look that Kara knows well, even if she’s not supposed to anymore.

“I, uh, I have to go. Emergency at the lab.”

As she stands to leave, Kara grabs her hand, “Wait. Just a second.”

Alex does, but Kara loses her nerve, “Uh…never mind. Call me later?”

She looks confused, but nods, “Sure. I’ll call you tonight.”

“Be safe, Alex.”

Her sister turns over her shoulder, “Thanks?”

Kara tunes into her heartbeat as she makes her way out the door and around the block, “Have the team ready in 20. We should move on them ASAP.”

She gives her a five minute head start, then takes off after her, being sure to fly well above a height were she could be seen.

…

**PRESENT**

Maggie stumbles out of bed in the morning, surprised to see Kara already awake, perched in the chair by the window with a cup of coffee.

“How are you feeling?”

She grins in the sunlight, “Better, here.”

Maggie can’t help but think of a puppy in a sun spot. She laughs to herself as she pours a cup of coffee.

“What?”

She shakes her head, “Nothing…”

Kara’s face falls slightly, “Thank you for saving me yesterday. And I’m…I’m sorry. About everything. I didn’t mean to drag you into this. But I really grateful that you had my back.”

She doesn’t hesitate, “Always.”

Kara smiles a little and turns back to the window, looking a million miles away.

Somewhere inside the apartment, a phone buzzes.

Maggie and Kara scan the room, until Maggie sees her phone glowing on the table by her bed. The number is blocked, but she answers anyway, “Sawyer.”

It’s silent for a beat, then, _“…hi.”_

She looks up at Kara, wide-eyed, “ _Alex_?” Her heart thuds, “Where are—who’s phone is this?”

Her voice isn’t cold like yesterday, but it’s firm, direct, _“Don’t worry about it.”_

She wasn’t worried, but she is now.

_“Is…is she ok?”_

Maggie’s lost, “Who?”

It’s silent again, except for the sound of Kara padding over from across the room. Kara _._ Supergirl _._

“Oh! She’s, uh—”

_“Wait. Don’t tell me.”_

“…ok?”

_“I hope she’s ok.”_

“…ok,” she repeats. She doesn’t know what else to say.

_“And thank you.”_

“For what?”

_“I—I forgot.”_

Maggie’s more confused than ever.

_“It’s been so long…without, uh…away from you. And I forgot. What you taught me.”_

Kara gives her a look, and Maggie shrugs.

_“Maybe…they’re not all hostiles to be caged.”_

The grin on her face is immediate, and she’s pulled back to a memory from years ago, sitting the DEO med bay with a burned shoulder, being tended to by the most beautiful woman she’s ever seen.

She swallows hard, “Any time.”

_“Be safe.”_

“Yeah. You too.”

And just like that, Alex is gone.

She looks to Kara, on the verge of tears, and slips her phone in her back pocket, “You’ll get her back.”

…

**72 HOURS LATER**

She triple-checked the name on the door, because she expected better from a former black-ops government agent.

This might the worst alias she’d ever seen. Even worse than the glasses.

He answers on the second knock, “Detective.”

“John.” It feels weird to call him that.

But he doesn’t seem surprised to see her there, “Come in.”

She takes the opportunity to look around his new office. The dark wood finishes, the nearly-full bookshelves, the desk that was most certainly not from Ikea. It suited him.

“You don’t seem surprised to see me.”

He neither confirmed or denied it, “Coffee?”

“No, thanks. I won’t be here long.”

“Oh. Well, how can I help you?”

She cuts right to the chase, “You didn’t erase me.”

He hesitates, like he’s trying to decide how much to tell her, “I couldn’t do that.”

In the days since Kara left, she hasn’t seen or heard from either Danvers sister. It was like it never happened.

Except it did, and she still had questions she needed answers to.

“It would be the smarter choice. I know too much.”

“I think,” he says carefully, “you know just enough.”

“It’s too much,” she whispers to herself.

“Maggie, sit. Please.”

The anger she was trying to suppress comes flooding back, “Why? So you can try to explain? Don’t bother. Kara already did. She might forgive you, but I won’t. I can’t. Her _mind,_ J’onn? Her memories?!”

“I h—”

“Had to. I know. That’s what Kara said too. I don’t buy it. There’s always another way.”

“Not this time.”

She can feel the sting in her eyes, “Then why leave me?”

It was selfish, she knew. That’s why she never asked Kara directly. But she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Why leave someone holding all the cards? What if they found her? Interrogated her? She would never betray them, but she knows the DEO isn’t known for it’s ethics. They could make her if they wanted to.

He looks her in the eye, “You’re the only one who could help.”

She takes a step back, “Alex?”

“Both of them.”

Now, she sits. “That doesn’t make sense.”

He follows her lead and sits beside her, “Just like Kara is too entwined in Alex’s memories, you, Maggie, are too entwined in the Danvers sisters’ lives to remove. And I tried.”

Her head snaps up, and he looks apologetic, “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to. I never—this whole thing—I didn’t want any of it.”

She sees the shame on his face, and for the first time, she wonders what effect this whole ordeal had on him.

“But you, Maggie? You had to stay. You’re too important.”

“Bullshit.”

He crosses his arms somewhat smugly, “Kara might be the reason Alex was recruited to the DEO, but she’s not the reason Alex is so valuable to this fight right now. _She_ didn’t make Alex soften her stance against aliens, Maggie. _You_ did.”

She thinks back to the phone call from three days ago. Then to the first time she brought her to Dollywood. Alex nearly shot half the bar on-sight. She bites back a laugh at the memory.

He smiles, “Exactly. And Kara? She has no one now. No back up.”

Her connection to Alex makes some sense—maybe. But Kara? They were never close.

“What about Guardian?”

J’onn shakes his head, “If James Olsen showed up as Supergirl’s sidekick, the DEO would have him in a containment cell within the hour.”

She still can’t believe he revealed himself to be Guardian. She would’ve loved to slap him upside the head for that idiotic decision, “What about you?”

“I took a vow of non-violence. And even if I didn’t, I recruited Supergirl to the DEO. Taking her side now would be…well, treason. They wouldn’t hesitate to arrest me either.”

“So why me,” she sighs.

“The NCPD is supposed to be at crimes scenes, and,” he smirks, “you dislike Supergirl.”

“I don’t—”

“You do. And it’s on the record.”

Oh _. Right_. That was a so long ago, she had forgotten. She’s come around since then…but, I guess he has a point.

“You can get through to Alex in a way no one else can. And you can help Kara. You can have her back, and it doesn’t look suspicious. You saved her life, Detective.”

Something clicks that hadn’t before, “How did you—wait, _you_ did that? That’s why no other NCPD officers heard the call. It only went to me?”

He at least has the decency to look embarrassed, “I wasn’t trying to interfere, I promise. But she needed help. They both did.”

His tone turns serious, “I will protect my family at all costs, Detective Sawyer.”

Maggie nods, “I know.”

“That includes you.”

She pauses, meeting his gaze, willing away the tears she can feel forming in her eyes, “Don’t worry about me.”

“I do. Often.”

Her heart swells, but she swallows hard, “I should go.”

She gets to the door and takes one last look over her shoulder, “Oh…and your secret’s safe with me.”

He smiles, “I never doubted it.”

…

 


End file.
